Was last year an aberration for Dallas Cowboys, Mike McCarthy? No more excuses in 2021.
The Dallas Cowboys and Mike McCarthy are in a conundrum.
The Cowboys want to give him pass for the disappointing 6-10 season in his first year as head coach due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the limitations that came with hit and the rash of injuries led by quarterback Dak Prescott.
But that’s not reality in the world of professional football.
You are what your record says you are.
Every team dealt with pandemic limitations, and injuries are part of the game.
McCarthy readily admits he and his staff didn’t handle things very well.
Still, there is a renewed optimism among the Cowboys headed into the 2021 season that has a fresh, first-year feel to it.
McCarthy had a first full offseason and is now in the midst of his first training camp in Oxnard, California.
“It’s probably been a constant of new is probably the best way to describe it,” McCarthy said. “I think the fact coming into Dallas and being away from your family personally, then the pandemic starts in the second month of your tenure there.
“Different, new experience in a lot of ways. This feels like the first year. Just the fact that we have this time together and able to do things we weren’t able to do last year, clearly we are going to be better for it.”
This the first time McCarthy has traveled for training camp since 2001 when he was an assistant coach with the New Orleans Saints.
He has fallen in love with the setup in Oxnard for camp and the convenience of being able to walk to the practice field from their hotel and meeting rooms at Residence Inn.
He is over the moon about the cooler temperatures.
“The weather is unbelievable,” McCarthy said. “The players benefit from it. The energy they put out on the practice field. They are cutting it loose. That is encouraging. As long as we keep doing that we are going to get to where we want to go.”
Bad decisions, bad luck in 2020
And that is where they thought they were headed when owner Jerry Jones fired Jason Garrett after the 2019 season and hired a proven winner in McCarthy, who won a Super Bowl title with the Green Bay Packers in 2010.
But mistakes came with the hiring of his first staff and then the pandemic hit as the Cowboys didn’t handle the virtual aspect of preparing for last season.
The Cowboys now regret hiring Mike Nolan as defensive coordinator and ushering in wholesale changes on defense with no offseason and a limited training camp to teach the new scheme.
The defense proceeded to set a team record for points allowed in 2020 and gave up the second most yards and most rushing yards in franchise history.
The Cowboys also dealt with a litany of injuries, including Prescott missing the final 11 games with a fractured right ankle. Offensive tackle Tyron Smith played only two games, tackle La’el Collins missed the entire season with an injury and Pro Bowl guard Zack Martin missed six games.
McCarthy, who started four different quarterbacks last season, had little chance for success in his first year.
The Cowboys believe last year was a combination of their own mistakes and an aberration, and it’s why they believe McCarthy deserves a do-over.
“I think you’re sticking your head into the sand if you don’t say it’s both,” vice president Stephen Jones said. “I think there’s no question we had an inordinate amount of injuries. I don’t think we ever had that many top players miss games.
“One time, we were playing with our fifth and sixth tackles out there, but that’s no excuse. But you got to overcome those things, obviously we felt like it was more than that.”
Building off a mountain of adversity
The Cowboys are healthy again. They’ve made wholesale changes on defense, including the hiring of Dan Quinn to replace Nolan while adding 15 defenders in the draft and free agency.
McCarthy has repeatedly said he doesn’t like comparing what’s going on now to last year.
But last year is all there is go on so far in the McCarthy era, and he admits that his team is a lot further ahead in preparation than it was at this time last year.
And that doesn’t include the internal motivation of wanting to make amends for last year’s disappointments. That’s from the coaching staff on down.
“Last year was hard. No excuse,” McCarthy said. “Every year you have adversity that you go through as a football team. Last year we were definitely on the high end. Anytime you have adversity, negativity, those are all great experiences you can build off. We will be better from that. I am convinced of that.”
They better be.
If this fresh start doesn’t spark dramatic progress and put the Cowboys back on the winning road, there will be no more mulligans.
